Drive a Hard Bargain is a 1957 Australian play by Oriel Gray.

Drive a Hard Bargain
Written byOriel Gray
Date premieredOctober 1957
Place premieredBallarat Civic Hall, Ballarat
Original languageEnglish

It won a one act play competition in 1957 by the South Street Society.[1] Adjudicator Lindsay Browne of the Sydney Morning Herald called it "a delight to read for the vivacity of the plot, dialogue, Aussie humour and shrewd categorisation."[2] The play, along with two others, was presented in 1957 at South Street.[3]

The play was also filmed for Australian television by the ABC in 1964.

Leslie Rees called it "a very popular one-acter... As in other Oriel Gray plays, there was here a lack of sufficient dramatic clash to warm a potentially dramatic situation—but artifices of character and vivacity of bush dialogue carried the day for this sprightly modern moralityin-little."[4]

A written edition of the play was published by the Tasmanian Adult Education Board in 1958.

Premise

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According to ABC Weekly, "The play is on a theme as old as literature, the Mephistophelean theme telling how the Devil in man’s disguise wanders the earth seeking to buy men’s souls. Kate Cleary, a middle-aged woman with great strength of character, runs a country pub with the help of her adopted daughter, Peggy. Peggy, a self-assured half-castc girl, is in love with a stockman. Whip."[5]

Radio adaptation

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The work was adapted for Australian radio in 1958.[5]

Television adaptation

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The play was filmed by the ABC in 1964. It was shot in Hobart, Tasmania and was directed by John Baldwin. It was the second television play filmed in Hobart; the first had been The Happy Journey in 1963.

Cast

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  • Junee Cornell as Kate Cleary
  • Gilliam Hunter as Peggy
  • Max Oldaker as Mr. Nicholas
  • Joan Coombe as The Blonde
  • Roger Triffitt as Whip O'Connor
  • John Tyde as Bart
  • Peter Dye as Geoff

References

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  1. ^ "SUNDRY SHOWS Stage and Music", The Bulletin, 80 (4160), 4 Nov 1959, nla.obj-695718130, retrieved 21 January 2024 – via Trove
  2. ^ "Play awards at South Street". The Age. 17 September 1957. p. 3.
  3. ^ "Prize winning one act plays". The Age. 14 October 1957. p. 5.
  4. ^ Rees, Leslie (1987). Australian drama, 1970-1985 : a historical and critical survey. p. 313.
  5. ^ a b Australian Broadcasting Commission. (15 October 1958), "A.B.C. radio plays for the week", ABC Weekly, retrieved 21 January 2024 – via Trove
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